Warp
by Imu-san
Summary: Back bars, warp, and boat shuttles. These minor parts are all part of one big thing; a thing makes something beautiful yet practical. Belgium always enjoyed the cheerful, loud side of life, and Sweden... well he had his own interests. Some people thought that these two couldn't be more different. But maybe a new loom could weave together something wonderful? Sweden Belgium


**Chapter One**

Contrary to popular belief, Belgium actually preferred to weave rather than to knit. It had originated from the middle ages, when the textile industry was big. Being as easily bored as she was, the nation decided to try her hand and maybe make a bit of money.

At first she found the process tedious; the warp was never wound correctly, the yarn was never threaded through the heddles, and she always lifted up the wrong shed. It was an utter disaster!

But, through her frustration and impatience, Belgium was able to finish a project. Then she said she would never try it again. Lo and behold, Spain got a loom when she was living with him. Only, he had no idea how to use it. The task of weaving cloth was left up to her. Again, nothing went right, but at least she knew what to do. Eventually, Belgium got good at it.

She had learned how fun it was to weave. It was fun to see how the patterns would manifest themselves on the warp, how it was possible to see each and every color you used. She found it oddly comforting also. She enjoyed the rhythmic movement of pulling the boat shettles through the open space between the yarns. She could lose herself in her work easily, making the childish antics of the world go away.

**…**

Belgium stared at the open box in her living room. It took up most of the space in the small area and she could barely move around without hitting her knees on something. Of course, there were pieces of wood and screws sprawled about the floor. Maybe getting a new loom wasn't the best idea.

Especially when she was having a hard time putting it together. It had been at least forty years since she had gotten a new one and she was never the best at putting things together. She couldn't fix anything for her life. Besides, she left most of that stuff to her brother. Every once in a while, Holland would come over to fix things up in exchange for a place to crash for a day or two. That said, Belgium never really enjoyed work like that.

As she tried to squeeze between her couch and the large box, she could feel her toe catch on one of the tiny screws that she had accidentally dropped on the floor. As she stepped forward, the screw went backwards under the couch, sliding far beneath it. Realizing what she had just done, Belgium dropped to the floor to try to retrieve it. She could see that small piece of metal just out of her reach, but she'd try anyways. She could barely feel it with the tip of her fingertips. She reached as far as she could, and just about got a grasp on it, then suddenly the phone rang. Startled, she slid the screw further under the couch, cursing as she did.

The nation made her way to the phone haphazardly. Out of breath, she answered. "Ja, this is Emma Cornelis."

"Right, it's me, England."

"Oh! Yeah, what's going on?"

"You forgot again, didn't you?" England sighed.

"Forgot what?"

"The EU meeting!"

"Wait! That was today?" Belgium exclaimed. "I'll be right there!" She hung up the phone quickly and went upstairs to change.

**…**

The meeting went on without a hitch, despite Belgium being late to a meeting she had organized herself. She was happy to say the least. As she was leaving to go back home, England approached her. "Belgium, why were you late today?"

"_Well that was a little blunt," _She thought. She smiled apologetically at the Brit standing in front of her. "Uh, I was having problems. I got a new loom recently and I haven't been able to put it together."

"Oh? Do you need help?"

"Huh? Yeah, but I'll get Holland to do it." Belgium chuckled, trying to not seem as desperate as she really was.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Denmark and Sweden pass by. She went back to England standing in front of her. "Are you sure?"

"Sure about what?" A new voice said. Belgium looked over to her side to the two Nordics now joining their conversation.

Before she could say anything, England spoke up. "She's having a difficult time trying to get her loom together."

"Oh you are, are ya? Well, Sverige here could help you!" Denmark said, pulling the taller Swede to the front.

"But I'm fine."

"No, no. Sverige will come over to your house tonight. He'll be in and out, right?" Sweden gave him no response. Denmark turned back to the female nation. "Well, anyways… He'd be quick. So how about it?"

Belgium sighed. It was only going to take about two hours or so. "Fine. Sweden can come with me, or follow my car." She gave Sweden apologetic look, but tried to smile. After an awkward moment of silence, Sweden nodded his head in agreement. "Thank you. If you want to follow me, my house is only about fifteen minutes away."

"Ah took 'cab."

"Oh... then I'll drive you." Again, Sweden nodded to say yes. She said her goodbyes to England and Denmark then led Sweden to her car. She unlocked it and waited for the Swede to get in. He stood there looking at the car door oddly. "Are you alright?"

"Ya 'ave a small car…"

Confused by the comment, Belgium looked at the car. Making the same realization, she apologized. "We can walk. It's not that far. And I can pick up my car later."

"Nej. It's cold outs'de."

"I can handle it though." All the nation got in response was a glare. It wasn't mean, but a forceful. Wasn't Sweden famous for that? She sighed. "Okay, then. We'll take the car." She watched his facial expression as he climbed in. The glare on his face lightened up to his default face. Belgium felt as if a weight had been lifted as she pulled out the parking garage.

The car ride was silent, something that Belgium was definitely not used to. There needed to at least be a bit of chatter. "Um. I want to say thank you again. You didn't really have to agree.'

"Nej, I d'n't, but Dan forced m' into it."

Belgium smiled. "He did, huh?"

"Ah don' really c're. He gets m' into stuff l'ke this all th' time."

"You got used to it I'm guessing?"

"Mm."

"Do you enjoy at least?"  
"S'metimes."

"Well I hope fixing my loom will be fun." She looked over to her guest and grinned. She could see the corners of his mouth move up a bit, but it didn't last.

**…**

Inside, Sweden was finding more success than Belgium did with the loom. She eventually came to guess that it was from all years of furniture making. He worked so well with it, despite his claims of never having built a loom before.

She tried not to hover, so spent most of her time in the kitchen. From there, she could hear him working. Belgium was anxious. She was so close to having her new loom ready to work on. Then she could make that rug she had always wanted.

To clear her anxiety, she brought a mug of coffee out for Sweden. "Hey, I figured you needed a break… What's going on?" She could see the man trying to search for something on the ground.

"Yo'r short 'screw."

"I am?"  
"Mmm."

Belgium put the mug down to help him look. "Oh wait! I think I accidentally kicked it under the couch earlier."

"Vad!?"

"Right, because I could almost reach it, but it was too far." She could hear the Swede growl as he made his way to the couch. He slid his arm under, but it didn't go too far.

"Can you reach it?"

"Nej. Yo're gonna have ta l'ft the couch."

"Right." The couch was difficult to lift and Belgium was getting tired quickly. She couldn't see where Sweden's hand was, so she had to be careful to not drop the couch suddenly. "Do you have it?"

"Yeah. Ah'll tell ya wh'n ta d'op the couch."

"Please hurry though. I can't hold it much longer." Sweden started to pull his arm out, but Belgium lost hold of the couch. It landed with a thud, making the Belgian shriek. Her eyes turned to Sweden who was laying on the floor with his hand caught under the couch. She gaped in horror, realizing that she may have just crushed his hand. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, Sweden! I'll try to pay for hospital bills if it's really bad."

He gave her another odd glare, then he pulled out the remainder of his arm. Belgium stared at it then sighed with relief. She instinctively hugged the Swede and started to mutter something he couldn't hear. He didn't bother to listen. He was stunned; she just hugged him! He wanted to say something, but couldn't bring himself to.

"I'm so glad. I thought you were hurt." Realizing who she was clinging to for dear life, she gasped and let go. Her cheeks heated up with embarrassment and she forced herself to look at the floor. "I'm sorry. I got ahead of myself."

Sweden looked at the Belgian and an amused feeling came over him. "Ya say s'rry ta much."

"I do not!"

Sweden chuckled at her. "Fine."

Belgium looked at the floor again. Her cheeks still felt warm. What was that? "Did you get the screw at least?"

"Ja."

"That's good! Then you can finish up." She went back into the kitchen and looked at the clock. It was late, just about time for dinner. Belgium went around the kitchen trying to find the necessary ingredients for the food.

When she was about half way done, Sweden walked into the kitchen. He watched her flit about the room, making sure that nothing burned or boiled over. It was fascinating to watch. Only Denmark would cook for the Nordics, and even then he wasn't the best cook.

The Belgian turned around to meet him. "I was getting hungry, so I started dinner. Are you finished already?"

"Ja."

"Nice. You can wait in living room until dinner is done. We're having chicken. Sound good?"

"'t does. But ah won't be stay'n for dinn'r."

"Of course you will! It's the least I could do. Besides, I almost crushed your hand under my couch."

"Nej, Danmark's wait'n fer me."

"I think he'll be okay with it. Please?"

Sweden had to take step back. He wasn't so used to having a lady ask him to stay over so late. Besides, this was Belgium. Her big green eyes were extremely pleading. And her hair was pulled back, revealing a bare neck… Okay, now he was just getting carried away.

The point was it was late and he wasn't feeling very hungry.

"Fine."

The Belgian smiled brightly. This was the happiest he had seen her all evening. This wasn't her usual forced smile. "Then it'll only be a few more minutes."

Looking past her, he spotted a problem. "Your 'ven's turned 'ff."

Upon hearing this, Belgium spun around to check her oven. Pulling out the large appliance she said, "Sorry. This thing's old"

Sweden pushed past her to fix it. "Stan' back an' ah'll fix it."

"Uh… yeah. Thanks."

He worked fast. The problem was supposed to be simple, but Belgium's oven was really old. It would have been easier to just replace it. He heard a click. It was fixed. "Shou'd be fine."

"Nice! I'll let you know when it's done."

**…**

Belgium was now seeing Sweden to the door. The dinner was pleasant, despite a few mishaps. She couldn't quite remembering feeling quite so warm and fuzzy inside, And, she couldn't quite remember the last time she had another person over for dinner.

"Thanks for coming over!" Belgium said as she handed him a small bag of chocolates.

"Mm."

He opened the wiggled the door handle only to see that the door wouldn't budge. He flipped the lock over, hoping that it was only locked. When it still wouldn't open, he looked back at Belgium.

She pushed past him to open the door. "Sorry about that. Sometimes it just needs an extra push." Giving it a rather hard hit with her shoulder, the door opened with a small creak. "See?"

Sweden looked at the top of the door. The door was too big for its frame. That's when an idea came to him. "Vad time d'ya wake up?"

"Uh… around seven. Why?"

"Ah'll be 'ere at eight."

"But why?"

"Yo'r house is fallin' 'part."

"You don't have to worry about that though! Holland will come over and fix everything."

"When?"

"Sometime. He always comes over at some of the most random times."

"Ja. Ah'm gonna fix it 'stead. Not tak'n no fer an ans'r."

Belgium grumbled for a minute. "Fine! Just… you really don't have to…"

"God natt." The swede left rather quickly after that, leaving Belgium a bit confused.

As she went to bed, Belgium realized she would have to pay him back some how. Not just for helping her repairs on the house, but most importantly, the loom. That had meant a lot to her. Hunkering down under a heavy quilt, only two thoughts loomed in her head: the Swedish flag and a scarf. Yes that would be the perfect way to repay him…

...

**AN: Hi again~! I know that I just got back to my other story, Lilacs and Paper, but this was something I started over spring break. I just had to post it. Besides this is my ultimate OTP. I just love SweBel! This couple needs more love. So... I'm taking initiative.**

**Over spring break, my grandmother taught me how to weave. It was really fun! And then I missed an event that my cosplay group was hosting, so in my dark self pity, I came up with this! Wonderful back story, eh? And maybe I'll add Belgium's cat festival... *Evil laughter***

**And I would love to thank all the people for 238 hits on Lilacs and Paper. The only thing left is... 238 hits on this! And please also read Belgio's stories! They were what showed me my beloved SweBel! Okay, See you next time! **


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